Rep. Roger Williams Blames Shutdowns on Partisan Politics, Calls for Aid to Affected Workers

Rep. Roger Williams, chairman of the House Small Business Committee, said partisan politics — not policy trade-offs — drive federal shutdowns and stressed the imperative of getting pay and cash to workers who lost income during the most recent lapse in funding.

“I mean, you can't shut a business down and try to bring it back overnight,” Williams said, adding that the American economy “can get itself back” and praising government and private-sector workers.

Williams pointed to the Secret Service as an example, saying agents continued protecting people even when they were not being paid: “Secret Service wasn't even getting paid. I mean, they were still doing their job,” he said.

The host introduced a short audio excerpt he attributed to Rep. Bennie Thompson and asked Williams for a response. The show transcript does not include Thompson's spoken words; the host summarized the clip as Thompson saying he "would do it all over again." Because the clip was not transcribed, Williams was asked to react to the host's summary rather than to a verbatim quote.

Asked whether anything can be done to stop recurring shutdowns, Williams said the pattern reflects partisan incentives: “That's what drives all this... But if president Trump gets any credit, the Democrats vote against it. And that's why you have shutdowns.”

Williams said that, after funding was restored, "Main Street" businesses could begin to hire and recover. He emphasized the need to get workers paid so households could resume routine spending and businesses could operate.

The interview concluded with Williams shifting to small-business policy and economic optimism; the conversation then moved to those topics.